He is on a trip down memory lane and has come to his career summit: the moment Taxi Dining Room was named The Age Good Food Guide restaurant of the year in its first year of operation, 2005.

''It was the proudest moment of my career,'' Lambie, then executive chef, says. The occasion was almost trumped by a standing ovation he received walking into Taxi Dining Room at capacity later that evening.

''Look at me, I'm getting all emotional just thinking about it,'' he says, laughing.

This month Lambie celebrates 17 years as a trailblazer in Melbourne's dining scene with a 17-course degustation dinner at his most recent acquisition, The Smith. Lambie, 42, will serve culinary highlights cherry-picked from his executive chef stints in many of Melbourne's kitchens - Stokehouse, Circa The Prince, Taxi Dining Room, Lamaro's and The Smith.

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''It's been an amazing journey,'' Lambie says, and he's not exaggerating.

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His story reads like a checklist of gastronomic greatness. At 12 a young Lambie was tasked with peeling potatoes, cleaning the coolrooms and washing the greens three school nights a week at his parents' Castle Mayne Pub in Basildon, Essex. ''I got the bug,'' he says. ''I started reading books about Michelin star chefs and just lovin' it.''

At 15 he moved to London, starting his apprenticeship in the 88-chef kitchen at Claridge's Hotel.

On obtaining his chef certificates Claridge's sous chef John Williams locked the clearly talented Lambie in the hotel's coolroom and stated, ''It's time for you to go, Michael. You've gone as far as you can go here.''

Then 18, Lambie spent the next two years at Munich's two-Michelin-starred restaurant Konigshof before returning to London to work at three-Michelin-starred Waterside Inn in Berkshire.

''Technically it was brilliant,'' Lambie says of the Waterside Inn. ''Every morning the Atlantic Ocean used to come through the back door. Live crayfish, scallops still alive in the shell, sea bass, turbot, halibut.''

Almost three years later, the lure of working alongside the ''hottest chef in the world'', Marco Pierre White, had Lambie jumping ship to Pierre White's self-titled restaurant in Knightsbridge, where Lambie became head chef.

''Marco was a new style of chef that cooked everything to order,'' he says. ''He was an absolute lunatic and intimidating man, but I used to love it.''

In 1995, Lambie arrived in Melbourne. He looked at the largely Italian cafe culture and thought, ''Oh my god, what have I done?''

He accepted an executive chef position at St Kilda seaside beauty Stokehouse, joining brothers and Stokehouse owners Frank and John Van Haandel.

There were only two things he was instructed not to take off the menu: carpaccio and Caesar salad. He had no idea how to make either.

Taking stock of his European fine-dining training, Lambie reset the clock, demanding kitchen staff start at 7.45am, wear chef whites, hats and butchers aprons, clean down the kitchen and cool rooms three times a day, and halt the use of frozen seafood.

He became known as part of the ''Brit-pack,'' a group of classically trained young British chefs who burst onto Melbourne's dining scene in the mid-'90s and redefined the city's dining culture.

''Unquestionably the Brit-pack did shape an era of fine dining,'' he says of the group that included restaurant heavyweights Paul Wilson, Raymond Capaldi, Donovan Cooke, Jeremy Strode and Ian Curley. ''We brought innovation, work ethic and a spark to Melbourne. We brought something new and it gave Melbourne a momentum.''

At 27 Lambie was offered a partnership in a new Van Haandel establishment, Circa The Prince. He delivered a menu bright with French cuisine and heavily inspired by Marco Pierre White. In its opening year Circa won three hats in The Age Good Food Guide - and best new restaurant.

''I was sitting at home thinking, 'Oh my god, what's going on?'. I'd been given a partnership in the restaurant of my dreams,'' he says.

However, it was Taxi, his partnership with Paul and Jo Mathis at Federation Square, that cemented his reputation.

''Paul said we need to do something cutting-edge and we did,'' Lambie says. ''It was Asian, Japanese, and European all fused and we nailed it. We really nailed it.''

His next venture, Lamaro's, had a maturing Lambie come full circle and reclaim a spot in a pub kitchen serving ''gastropub'' fare. ''I've always said you can't reinvent the wheel but you can put new tyres on it,'' he says.

Now at The Smith, Lambie is proving his business acumen together with co-director Scott Borg. The duo have a global menu designed for a smartened-up pub setting inspired by Lambie's travels to New York.

''In your 30s, you want to be a pin-up boy; in your 40s, you want to run a successful restaurant - I've decided a balance between the two is ideal.''

2. Blend chicken breast, salt, pepper, cayenne, egg and cream: fold through the rabbit confit and mushrooms. Pipe down the centre of the rabbit saddles and wrap in prosciutto.

3. Wrap in crepinette and tie with string.

4. Roast the saddles for 6 minutes and allow to rest. Wilt cos lettuce and peas in a little butter.

5. Bring chicken stock to the boil and add cream and grain mustard. Season with lemon juice, set aside.

6. Slice the saddles into 3 medallions, arrange attractively on a plate, garnish with lettuce and peas, and pour the sauce around.

Serves 4

Where and when Michael Lambie's ''17 years in 17 dishes'' dinner will be held at The Smith Restaurant & Bar, 213 High Street, Prahran, on November 26 at 6.30pm. Phone: 9514 2444 or see thesmithprahran.com.au